Intense cold conditions in HP, water bodies freeze
Shimla, Dec 17- Cold conditions further intensified on Sunday in most parts of Himachal Pradesh as mercury dipped, inspite of a sunny day. The high altitude tribal areas and mountain passes realed under arctic conditions, local MeT office said. Keylong, the administrative centre of the Lahaul and Spiti district recorded minimum temperature at minus 12 degrees Celsius, six notches below normal. Kalpa in Kinnaur tribal district recorded a low of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius. Manali, Bhuntar, Sundernagar and Solan recorded minimum temperatures at minus 1.6, 0.5, 0.6 and 2.8 degree Celsius respectively. Una in Shivalik foothills recorded a low of 4.4 degrees Celsius while Palampur and Dharamsala shivered at 5.0 and 5.4 degrees Celsius respectively, followed by Shimla and Nahan at 6.7 and 7.0 degrees Celsius respectively. There were marginal fluctuations in maximum temperatures and Una was hottest during the day with a high of 24.8 degrees Celsius. Sundernagar, Solan, Bhuntar, Nahan, Shimla, Dharamshala, Manali, Kalpa recorded a high of 22.1, 22.0, 20.0, 18.2, 15.9, 15.8, 13.4 and 7.4 degrees Celsius respectively. Keylong recorded the maximum temperature at zero degrees Celsius. All natural sources of water such as lakes, springs, rivulets and tributaries of major snow-fed rivers have frozen. The discharge of water in major rivers has reduced to 25 per cent. Whereas, the power generation of hydropower projects has been reduced to 20 per cent. The local MeT office has predicted dry spell in the region for next six days till December 23 with occurrence of frost in lower hills. PTI
